Mini Review of "Semilar" or 142lm Cree PR Flashlight

HarveyRich · Apr 23, 2007

Just received this light from Kaidomain, which works with RCR123A 3.7V li-ion cells. That's what I used for my single run-through (LIR 3.6v unprotected 800mah). The aluminum casing is thin, but well machined and seems to be of fairly high quality work. It flickered a little when I first twisted it on. The ground wire was soldered to the bottom of the head (or pcb?) inside with a blob, which was uneven, so I put some extra solder around there which seemed to help the flicker a bit. It now flickers a bit when twisting on and off, but not while on.

The Kaidomain site claims that this lite was tested at 4100 lux at one meter. I sure didn't get anything near that amount of light in the hot spot. However, it still threw a very nice large bright spot with about 2650 lux with a freshly charged battery. So, beware of the claim on the site, but it's still very nice output.

I ran it for 35 mins by which time the light output was down to about 1350 lux or slightly over 50% of the initial output, I would estimate. Battery voltage then was 3.6v. I put the battery back back in and turned the light back on, running it to about 42 mins before the light had significantly declined to 1/4 or less of the original output (eyeball estimate). Since I had an unprotected battery, I pulled it at that point. The voltage tested 3.22v and I had no problems charging it back up again. The light became fairly warm to the touch during the run, but not that warm that it felt hot.

In conclusion, I liked this light, despite the runtime limitation. I would say that you can expect 40 minutes of effective light before you run the danger of over discharging your unprotected li-ion battery. I guess that's not too bad for a light of this size and output on RCR123A batteries. In comparison, my LOD-CE had an output on 10440 on high of about 1,500 lux at a meter and 525 lux on medium. From other threads, I gather that it runs about 12 mins on high. So, these numbers are really not bad at all. The only downside for me is that there's only one output setting, i.e. no medium.

Edit: Oh yes, the hotspot is fairly large, focused and white. There's useable spill, but not as much as with the LOD-CE.

Pathlight · Apr 24, 2007

Hi,

Thanks for the review. I was thinking about getting one. Hmm. also want to
get a LOD CE. Quickbeams chart says it has 400 lux on high with 1.5v batt.
thats one heck of a difference with a 10440 batt. hard to believe. it really sounds good. I asume you have a light meter? or..

Currently have a L1P, L2P, LOP Se, and L1P CE. Love them all.

Regards, Gordon

2xTrinity · Apr 24, 2007

Thanks for the review. I was thinking about getting one. Hmm. also want to
get a LOD CE. Quickbeams chart says it has 400 lux on high with 1.5v batt.
thats one heck of a difference with a 10440 batt. hard to believe. it really sounds good. I asume you have a light meter? or..

Keep in mind that the Lux is going to be low beacuse the L0D with its tiny reflector is more of a flood light. Lumens should be very similar between the two (Semilar, L0D). That difference in output reflects what my eyes see. Medium looks noticeably brighter to my eyes on 10440 than the high with a Lithium Primary (the brightest-running 1.5V battery). 25% higher lux sounds reasonable. On high, brightness appears to be more than doubled to my eye, again, about a 180% increase as shown by those Lux readings (also keep in mind that power delivered to the LED is probably around 3.5W direct driven, as opposed to 1.25W minus converter losses)

Look at it this way though -- you can use the light on 10440 and never go past the medium setting, and never have to worry about short battery life. It will still be brighter than before. And runtime there is more like 55 minutes on medium as opposed to 12 on high, closer to 1:45 on low (same as the old "medium"). Another plus is that it's rechargeable, so you don't have to shell out for new L91 cells. (NiMH does work, but it's noticeably dimmer than the L91 lithum primary) and that's not even taking into account the absurdly bright high mode.

I don't have the Semilar, though I do have the little $6.50 twisty that I upgraded to a Cree, which sounds like it performs similarly to the Semilar. I threw LEDs into those that had poorer tints than I wanted for my more expensive lights. On lower current though (<500mA) the tint isn't bad, so I run them on old CR123 3.5V primaries as lower-output lights.

matrixshaman · Apr 26, 2007

When I got this light the LED looked way off center and the circuit board was tilted badly on the back where the battery positive makes contact SOOOO.... I pulled out the Light engine and guess what. That high powered Cree is sitting on a PCB with NO foil even on the top let alone any heat sinking. Circuit board is held down by a small phillips screw into the aluminum capsule. I don't know if their is a driver inside that or just a wire going to the board for the battery contact BUT this thing could really really use some heat sinking - even the PCB the Cree is attached to was loose and not making contact with the aluminum capsule - screw was not tightened down and upon trying to tighten it further I still could not get the board down flush against the aluminum as the screw got too tight in the aluminum before going all the way down to make contact with the PCB. This really needs some AA and something on the PCB I think for better heat sinking at the rate this thing is cranking out the Lumens. The LE and capsule unscrew from the head - mine was a little buggered up from someone who put it in then apparently tried to unscrew it a bit - probably because the LED looked like it was into the reflector too far. I'm going to see what I can come up with to heat sink this better before using it much or I'm sure it will toast itself.

batvette · Apr 27, 2007

Matrix: You think this is why the two of these I got today are REAL bright for 5-10 seconds then get dim?

matrixshaman · Apr 27, 2007

I doubt it would fry in 10 seconds unless you really had an overcharged RCR123 in there but most likely it's a contact or battery problem. Clean the contacts in the bottom and on the head and check to make sure you have good batteries. I still don't know for sure if this has a driver board in it but I am guessing now it is direct drive since it seems to work with some old weak batteries and runs very dim. I also just measured about 1.25 amps draw with a RCR123 battery and about 1 amp with a CR123 slightly used. That leads me to think it is just running direct drive - probably a low ohm resistor in there is all.

matrixshaman · Apr 27, 2007

batvette - also are you using protected RCR123's? If so this high current draw might kick some of them down - not sure but try some different batteries. I had a RCR123 that read 4.05 volt at green light off the charger but went dim in a light right away - turned out it was a bad battery.

LightScene · Apr 28, 2007

I just got one. It seems to be a previous version as the head, rather than the tail, unscrews, and it has a smooth reflector. The appearance is flawless and the threads are very nice. The finish is excellent and reminiscent of HA III, although the advertising doesn't say what it is. It is very solid, unlike the MXDL-Cree.

It's thinner and shorter than a P1D-CE. The tail is very similar, but has 5 points instead of 4.
Nothing about this light says 'cheap', except the price tag.

It works fine with the newer protected RCR123's from AW, but the older ones from batterystation don't fit.

It is pretty dim with a primary CR123, but with a 3.7v RCR123 it is as bright or brighter than a P1D-CE on 3.7v.

It takes too many turns to get it all-the-way on or all-the-way off, making it impractical for daily use. To put it another way, you will likely choose a different light to carry with you, even though this one might be smaller and stronger. I plan to use it as a bike light, and as a back up for my P1D-CE.

The inscription says "Waterproof USA"?

All-in-all this light comes pretty close to being a P1-CE substitute. Yes, I know Fenix doesn't make a P1-CE, but if they did (and they should) it would be quite similar to this, with a better circuit board and a better on-off switch.

HarveyRich · Apr 28, 2007

OriginallyhPosted by LightScene: It takes too many turns to get it all-the-way on or all-the-way off, making it impractical for daily use.

It does take a couple of turns to turn off and on, but that's it. If you put some extra solder on the bottom of the bezel where the wire comes through, which they've soldered on, you can flatten out the bottom somewhat. A little bit of filing of the solder to flatten it and the turning on/off seems much better.

LightScene · Apr 28, 2007

HarveyRich said:
It does take a couple of turns to turn off and on, but that's it. If you put some extra solder on the bottom of the bezel where the wire comes through, which they've soldered on, you can flatten out the bottom somewhat. A little bit of filing of the solder to flatten it and the turning on/off seems much better.

My bezel is the head. The only thing visible is the bottom of a circuit board. It has a silvery circle in the middle (where the battery makes contact) on a green background. It is flat. There is no wire coming through.

At the bottom of the battery tube there is a raised small circular protrusion which contacts the bottom of the battery. There is no spring (a mistake in my opinion).

berto · Apr 29, 2007

I saw the new one where the bottom unscrews Why would they change this light ? Now if you have it on a keychain it might unscrew or turn itself on not to mention on alot of these lights the led was'nt screwed in all the way into the reflector good luck trying to screw it in with a pair of needlenose pliers now oh well I have four of the old style so Iam set for awile.

Randy Shackleford · Apr 29, 2007

seems there is another model:
http://kaidomain.com/WEBUI/ProductDetail.aspx?TranID=1775

HarveyRich · Apr 29, 2007

Originally Posted by Randy Shackleford: seems there is another model:

Guess I have the old model since the endcap doesn't unscrew. The new model probably doesn't have the wire coming through the pcb.

2xTrinity · Apr 29, 2007

I doubt it would fry in 10 seconds unless you really had an overcharged RCR123 in there but most likely it's a contact or battery problem. Clean the contacts in the bottom and on the head and check to make sure you have good batteries. I still don't know for sure if this has a driver board in it but I am guessing now it is direct drive since it seems to work with some old weak batteries and runs very dim.

I also just measured about 1.25 amps draw with a RCR123 battery and about 1 amp with a CR123 slightly used. That leads me to think it is just running direct drive - probably a low ohm resistor in there is all.

Click to expand...

No way is it direct drive if what you say is true. I have a light that is literally just a direct drive from a CR123 cell. Draws about 1.3A from a fresh RCR123. Draws about 200mA from a partially used CR123, about 130mA on a mostly-spent CR123. LEDs are very sensitive to input voltage, this looks to me like the same circuit used in my 3W MXDL that I modded to Cree -- a voltage-regulated boost circuit. This means direct drive when the input voltage is higher than the output, voltage regulation otherwise.

The reason I say the MXDL is voltage regulated is when I replaced the stock LED with the Cree, which has a much lower forward voltage, it started supplying double the current that it used to (up from 450mA to around 900mA)

lowatts · May 2, 2007

HarveyRich said:
It does take a couple of turns to turn off and on, but that's it. If you put some extra solder on the bottom of the bezel where the wire comes through, which they've soldered on, you can flatten out the bottom somewhat. A little bit of filing of the solder to flatten it and the turning on/off seems much better.

I don't think its supposed to that that many turns to power it on. Mine was like that and I found the PCB was loose, and so was starting to make intermittent contact with the battery early in the turn but not giving a firm contact until after a couple of turns. I used some clear paint (didn't have glue handy) to help hold the PCD in the head, and put a small foam donut between it and the battery to help push it in the head and to keep the battery from ratteling. I think I got it down to maybe half a turn, not sure, the light's at home now so I can't verify.

shakeylegs · May 2, 2007

Great little light on rcr 123 - just wish it had a useable low setting. Anyone have any ideas about a mod. The pill comes out easily. Would a flupic be palusible?

Vikas Sontakke · May 2, 2007

Does anybody know the mechanism for two-stage switching on Raw? Something similar could be adapted for this type of light. What you want is a thin compressible ring which will have some resistance in un-compressed state.

- Vikas

Yapo · May 3, 2007

I think the new version with the twisty tailcap is a bad idea...the light is a bit too small for a twisty at the back. i was playin around with my P1D-CE...trying to turn it on with one hand with the head pointin towards me and it seems quite hard with the tight threads/o-ring...but i guess the tailcap will probly not be as tight and the pics look like the emitters actually been screwed down further into the reflector though

batvette · May 3, 2007

matrixshaman said:
batvette - also are you using protected RCR123's? If so this high current draw might kick some of them down - not sure but try some different batteries. I had a RCR123 that read 4.05 volt at green light off the charger but went dim in a light right away - turned out it was a bad battery.

Turns out to be the batteries, I ordered 2 2pks of unprotected rechargeables from Kai, one package was bad. At less than $4 a pk I won't bother even complaining. The light kicks *** for the price.
One light came imprinted with "Cree P4 LED, superbright....." and the other unmarked.

The unmarked one has a little more white and is a little brighter, the marked one looks a little yellow but only if you compare it to the other. by itself you wouldn't notice.

etc · May 17, 2007

Pictures?

I get this while accessing the web site:

Failure To Connect To Web Server
Failure To Connect To Web Server

Mini Review of "Semilar" or 142lm Cree PR Flashlight

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